Halloween Desserts

Halloween isn't all about the candy--check out these festive treats that are perfect for trick-or-treaters of any age. Whether you're a pumpkin aficionado or dream in dark chocolate, these recipes will satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are some of our favorite Halloween desserts, including red velvet spider web cupcakes and candy corn cookies.

Halloween isn't all about the candy--check out these festive treats that are perfect for trick-or-treaters of any age. Whether you're a pumpkin aficionado or dream in dark chocolate, these recipes will satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are some of our favorite Halloween desserts, including red velvet spider web cupcakes and candy corn cookies.

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Mini Spiced Pumpkins

These spice cakes look like tiny pumpkins when they're covered with orange glaze and topped with a piece of dark licorice, twisted to look like a stem.

Chocolate Mice

Ghostly Lemon Cake Pops

Grace Parisi's cake pops are easy to make: Crumble store-bought pound cake; mix with lemon, sugar and butter; then shape into mounds. When they're covered with white chocolate, the cakes look like ghosts. Make their faces with an edible decorating pen or dots of black frosting.

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust

Halloween Whoopie Pies

Tender chocolate cake with a luscious creamy filling is great in any form, but it's most fun of all in a whoopie pie. These little cakes are dressed in their Halloween finest with orange sashes made by rolling the creamy edges in bright orange nonpareils.

Dulce de Leche, Coconut and Chocolate Chip Magic Bars

This is Grace Parisi's sophisticated version of magic bars, that chocolate-coconut bake-sale favorite. Browning the butter gives the crust a nutty flavor; cooking it in a metal baking dish makes it extra crisp. In a touch inspired by pastry chefs' favorite new ingredient, Grace adds bacon to the filling.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown-Butter Pears

Pastry chef Jane Tseng worked with Nate Appleman (an F&W Best New Chef 2009), to create dishes like this awesome dessert. She uses the tangy, pungent, soft-ripened Italian cheese Robiolina and house-made gingersnaps; the version here calls for cream cheese and boxed cookies.

Chocolate-Dipped Vanilla Caramels

Pumpkin-Walnut Praline Bars

Carrie Dove's young son, Jeremy, says these are one of his favorite sweets. The family makes them at Halloween and gives them out to trick-or-treaters. The pumpkin pie filling is terrific smothered in the buttery, nutty praline topping.

Spiced Chocolate Fondue

Caroline Yeh sells extraordinary candies from small European and American producers. She's also an excellent home cook and baker with a passion for chocolate. Fragrant with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and ginger, her fondue holds up remarkably well at room temperature, which makes it good for parties—especially when it's served with gingerbread, apples or shortbread for dunking.

Spiced Cashew Brittle and Chocolate Crunch Bark

Red-Velvet Cake Balls with White Chocolate

Dipped in white chocolate, these red-velvet cake balls are perfect for turning into eyeballs on Halloween. With a steady hand and food coloring, David Burtka paints detailed irises and pupils on each one; for the less artistically inclined, an M&M pressed into the white chocolate before it sets makes for a quick-and-easy creepy alternative.